SAVAGE ON PETROL

chopper666

I swapped a Harley Sportster for a ZRX1200R (2003) a few weeks ago because I needed something more practical for commuting, as I will be riding into the city from Navan everyday. The problem is the ZRX is a animal on petrol, I am only getting 95 miles on a full tank of juice. I am planning on swapping it for something more economical....any suggestions ?:eek:

Peanut2011

If you are looking for commuter bike and decent fuel consumption I would recommend 400-600cc bike.

colm_c

400-600 and keep the cylinder number low.

I had a BMW 650 single and it would do 70 mpg with ease, had a BMW 1200 (boxer) and it gets between 35-45 mpg.

chopper666

Peanut2011 wrote: »

If you are looking for commuter bike and decent fuel consumption I would recommend 400-600cc bike.

has to have a bit of poke as well, I was thinking SV1000, v-twin shouldn't be as thirsty as the ZRX and she should get down the road too

cantdecide

Is your bike FI? I get 47ish mpg from my GSX1400 which is around 150 miles until the lower indicator starts flashing. I have run it out of juice at 192 miles:o My Busa got 50mpg when you took it handy.

bladespin

That's pretty low, naked muscle (lol) bikes aren't renowned for their mpg but the XJ should be better, it's all about how you ride it, change up points etc, revving out's fun but is dire on consumption, changing around 5k etc.

arybvtcw0eolkf

chopper666 wrote: »

I swapped a Harley Sportster for a ZRX1200R (2003) a few weeks ago because I needed something more practical for commuting, as I will be riding into the city from Navan everyday. The problem is the ZRX is a animal on petrol, I am only getting 95 miles on a full tank of juice. I am planning on swapping it for something more economical....any suggestions ?:eek:

How many litres/Euro are we talking about?.

I ride a BMW R1100S and if I act the bolloc with wheelies etc I'll get down in those figures.

But give it the gentle touch and I'm getting about 120mpg from about E20-

Have a look at your riding style maybe?

chopper666

It's a carb model, I think the problem is a combination of engine size, over-all weight of bike and no overdrive gear. most of the riding I do is on the motorway so I really need a 6th gear to keep the revs down

chopper666

Cairo Lively Trampoline wrote: »

How many litres/Euro are we talking about?.

I ride a BMW R1100S and if I act the bolloc with wheelies etc I'll get down in those figures.

But give it the gentle touch and I'm getting about 120mpg from about E20-

Have a look at your riding style maybe?

I'm getting about 100 miles for 20 euro and that's riding about 80 on the motorway, I think if it had a 6th gear it would be more economical

cantdecide

Give us some numbers on the fuel. Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs but

1) fill the bike and immediately...

2) reset your trip-meter and drive on mad

3) when your fuel light comes on, refill the bike and ...

4) note the mileage completed since the last fill and the amount of fuel you have needed to fill the bike.

5) take the litres required to refill the bike and divide by 4.54, thus showing how many gallons you have used

6) take the amount of miles completed since the last fill and divide by the number you get from step 5.

7) This is your mpg and for your bike should be something in the region of 35 according to d'internet.




From a few online stats and a few assumptions, it looks like you're getting about 25 mpg which is atrocious and it means something is wrong or you drive like a nutter. You should be getting something like 140 miles until the fuel light should come on.

Does the bike have an aftermarket exhaust? Any reason to believe it might have been up-jetted? How is it running in general?


EDIT: Just saw your post above. That gives you 35mpg which is solid IMO. Have a nice day!!

cantdecide

chopper666 wrote: »

I'm getting about 100 miles for 20 euro and that's riding about 80 on the motorway, I think if it had a 6th gear it would be more economical

Man, just fill the bike. That will cost your €30ish and you'll get something like 140 miles to a tank. With your kind of commute you'd be mad to part-fill your bike. If you need better economy than that, you need FI and to roll the throttle back a little, IMO.

old_aussie

Change rear cog to one with a few less teeth.

chopper666

cantdecide wrote: »

Man, just fill the bike. That will cost your €30ish and you'll get something like 140 miles to a tank. With your kind of commute you'd be mad to part-fill your bike. If you need better economy than that, you need FI and to roll the throttle back a little, IMO.

Tank only holds €20, I know this because I ran out of juice outside a filling station (lucky or what) and it took 20 to fill it to the top. I don't ride like a nut or anything like it, I just think the ZRX is heavy on petrol. I commuted to work for eight years and in that time I had 3 GSXR's 1100/750/400...2 ZXR750's and a ZX9R...2 R1's and about 6 Harley's so I know 100 miles for a full tank of petrol is not good......Love the bike but it has to go :-)

cantdecide

chopper666 wrote: »

Tank only holds €20, I know this because I ran out of juice outside a filling station (lucky or what) and it took 20 to fill it to the top. I don't ride like a nut or anything like it, I just think the ZRX is heavy on petrol. I commuted to work for eight years and in that time I had 3 GSXR's 1100/750/400...2 ZXR750's and a ZX9R...2 R1's and about 6 Harley's so I know 100 miles for a full tank of petrol is not good......Love the bike but it has to go :-)

I have no explanation as to why your tank holds so little- it's supposed to be a 5 gallon/ 23l tank which should cost something like €35 to fill from dry. Maybe it was rust-repaired/ modified.

Aside from the sheer inconvenience of having to go for petrol so often, which would be understandable, I think you'd be mad to shift the bike while it's returning 35mpg if you like it so much.

Are you sure you're not having fuel tap issues? I had a problem with my slingshot 750 (which gave me 39/40 mpg incidentally) where the fuel lines would air-lock due to someone adding fuel filters. It would start running badly/ mis-firing after some of the fuel had been used up.

Do you have a fuel level sensor or a fuel light?

chopper666

cantdecide wrote: »

I have no explanation as to why your tank holds so little- it's supposed to be a 5 gallon/ 23l tank which should cost something like €35 to fill from dry. Maybe it was rust-repaired/ modified.

Aside from the sheer inconvenience of having to go for petrol so often, which would be understandable, I think you'd be mad to shift the bike while it's returning 35mpg if you like it so much.

Are you sure you're not having fuel tap issues? I had a problem with my slingshot 750 (which gave me 39/40 mpg incidentally) where the fuel lines would air-lock due to someone adding fuel filters. It would start running badly/ mis-firing after some of the fuel had been used up.

Do you have a fuel level sensor or a fuel light?

It has a fuel gauge but I don't think there is any problem with the bike, It has only 14500 miles on the clock and is in mint condition, perhaps your idea of hard riding differs from mine :-)

galwaytt

I bet the Sportster was lighter on juice............my Road King does 43mpg on average, but up to 54mpg going really easy.

I would not expect the ZRX to do any better than ........40 ?

Peanut2011

chopper666 wrote: »

has to have a bit of poke as well, I was thinking SV1000, v-twin shouldn't be as thirsty as the ZRX and she should get down the road too

SV1000 are shown as average consumption of 41mpg where ZRX has 35mpg. I guess every little helps, but if I was you, unless I found another bike that I like as much I would stick with it!

chopper666

galwaytt wrote: »

I bet the Sportster was lighter on juice............my Road King does 43mpg on average, but up to 54mpg going really easy.

I would not expect the ZRX to do any better than ........40 ?

I'm getting about 40 mpg which is ****, for the last 3 years I have worked hard and jumped through hoops in order to get my place in college and now it looks like the price of petrol is going to **** it all......no messing, if I don't sort this out quick I'm ****ed

CJhaughey

You need to reevaluate your needs.
Its not possible to have a powerful bike that is easy on fuel.
Thats why commuters use bikes like a GS500 or CB500, not because they are fun to ride but because they are easy on fuel and servicing is cheap.
Consumables like C+S, brakes and tyres also play a big part in affordability when running a bike daily.
Big powerful machines over 600cc are going to use more of everything.
If it was me, I'd bite the bullet and just look for a proven commuter, Deauvilles are popular as well as being practical, in fact most of the NT/NTV variants are brilliant for commuting with shaft drive = less maintance.

fleet

Hyosung GV 250 FI == 87 miles per (UK) gallon :-)

fatbast

gs 650 or xtx660 both light on fuel....my bandit 12 fitted with small rear sprocket makes a big difference to mpg and more relaxed cruising on motorway....a deauville or transalp might be alternatives.

galwaytt

....well my SO's SV650S is doing mid-50's and I rented an F800R for a weekend and averaged more than 70mpg.......

Neither are exactly poor performance and are nice bikes to boot.

A good friend of mine has an 08 CBF1000 and is getting 50mpg+ out of it - and that's basically a Fireblade .....mind you, he's getting rid of it shortly, having bought a Guzzi.

Nothing wrong with some/all of the above.

chopper666

CJhaughey wrote: »

You need to reevaluate your needs.
Its not possible to have a powerful bike that is easy on fuel.
Thats why commuters use bikes like a GS500 or CB500, not because they are fun to ride but because they are easy on fuel and servicing is cheap.
Consumables like C+S, brakes and tyres also play a big part in affordability when running a bike daily.
Big powerful machines over 600cc are going to use more of everything.
If it was me, I'd bite the bullet and just look for a proven commuter, Deauvilles are popular as well as being practical, in fact most of the NT/NTV variants are brilliant for commuting with shaft drive = less maintance.

Took your advice and swapped the ZRX for an NT650, 02 with only 18k miles, every creature comfort and €1000 in cash.....result

CJhaughey

chopper666 wrote: »

Took your advice and swapped the ZRX for an NT650, 02 with only 18k miles, every creature comfort and €1000 in cash.....result

Great result!
Let us know how you are getting on with fuel economy etc.